WAFX (106.9 MHz, "106.9 The Fox") is a

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

licensed to Suffolk, Virginia. It serves the

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is the name of both a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's ...

(

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

Virginia Beach Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous cit ...

- Newport News) radio market. WAFX is owned and operated by Saga Communications. It airs a

classic rock Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when radio was compelle ...

. WAFX broadcasts in the

HD Radio HD Radio (HDR) is a trademark for an in-band on-channel (IBOC) digital radio broadcast technology. It generally simulcasts an existing analog radio station in digital format with less noise and with additional text information. HD Radio is used ...

(hybrid) format. Studios and offices are on Greenbrier Circle in

Chesapeake Chesapeake often refers to: * Chesapeake people, a Native American tribe also known as the Chesepian * The Chesapeake, a.k.a. Chesapeake Bay * Delmarva Peninsula, also known as the Chesapeake Peninsula Chesapeake may also refer to: Populated p ...

. Most FM stations in the market are powered at 50,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wa ...

s or less but WAFX runs at 100,000 watts. It is a Class C FM station, with its

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which is applied to ...

off

U.S. Route 258 U.S. Route 258 (US 258) is a spur of US 58 in the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. Highway runs from US 17 Business and NC 24 Business in Jacksonville, North Carolina north to Virginia State Route 143 (SR 143) at Fort Monr ...

Windsor, Virginia Windsor is an incorporated town in Isle of Wight County in the Hampton Roads region of southeastern Virginia in the United States. It is located near the crossroads of U.S. Route 460 and U.S. Route 258. The population was 2,626 at the 2010 cen ...

. That's just far enough west to be in the Class C zone. Eastern

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

is in the Class B zone, which limits the

effective radiated power Effective radiated power (ERP), synonymous with equivalent radiated power, is an IEEE standardized definition of directional radio frequency (RF) power, such as that emitted by a radio transmitter. It is the total power in watts that would ...

of FM stations closer to the coast. WAFX's signal covers most of Southeastern Virginia and Northeastern North Carolina, audible from the suburbs of

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, to

Elizabeth City, North Carolina Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educa ...

History

In 1981, Voice of The People, Inc., received a

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from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

to construct and operate a new FM broadcast station at Suffolk, Virginia, on the frequency 106.9 MHz. Voice of The People chose WTID for the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...

, which stood for the Tidewater region of Virginia. The station

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the air in November 1982. WTID aired a

Christian radio Christian radio is a Christian media radio format that focus on programming with a Christian message. Many such broadcasters play contemporary Christian music, though many programs include sermons, radio dramas, as well as news and talk prog ...

format. In April 1985, the station was sold to Southern Starr Broadcasting Group, Inc., of Altamonte Springs, Florida. In 1987, Downs Radio, Inc., acquired WTID. Its call letters were changed to WSKX and it aired a

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

format. The KX in the call sign stood for "Kicks." The station struggled against the market's long-time country leader, 100.5 WCMS-FM (now

urban adult contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music ...

WVBW-FM). WSKX left the country format in 1989, becoming classic rock WAFX "The Fox." Radio Ventures, Inc., acquired the station for $10 million in 1990. In 1994, Saga Communications bought WAFX for $4 million.Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 2001 page D-477
/ref> Saga, which already owned album rock 98.7 WNOR-FM, continued WAFX's classic rock format, while moving WNOR-FM to a more current-based, harder-edged

active rock Active rock is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations across the United States and Canada. Active rock stations play a balance of new hard rock songs with valued classic rock favorites, normally with an emphasis on the harder edge ...

sound. As of today, WAFX's music playlist has expanded to playing popular and historic 1990's alternative and grunge into their playlist. meanwhile, their sister station, WNOR, has since moved all their classic and harder songs from the 1970's and 1980's on to WAFX, expanding the music to a total of 4 complete decades of historic and iconic classic rock history.

References

External links

106.9 The Fox Online
* {{Saga Communications 1983 establishments in Virginia Classic rock radio stations in the United States Radio stations established in 1983 AFX AFX